Credit union hacks continue with Equifax and TransUnion malware attacks

Why it matters to you

Although Equifax hasn’t been hacked again itself, its overuse of third-party tools suggests there are many more attack vectors open to potential hackers.

If Equifax thought the resignation of its CEO would be the beginning of the end of its catastrophic security debacle, it was sorely mistaken. This week has seen it attacked again, ultimately redirecting visitors to fake Flash Player updates and malware. It wasn’t the only one either, as TransUnion’s Central American website began doing the same this week.

Although there have been many large hacks over the past few years, the Equifax one was easily one of the worst. Affecting more than 145 million Americans and severely compromising the identity of hundreds of thousands, it left the majority of the country vulnerable to fraud. But it appears as if the Equifax security woes are far from over.

When security researcher, Randy Abrams attempted to visit the Equifax site to check some information on his credit report, he found himself redirected to a malicious URL which claimed his Flash players was out of date. That is a familiar scam message to anyone who has been on the internet for long enough, but it was a surprise to see the scam affect Equifax’s site so soon after it was breached earlier.

As Ars Technica pointed out, such campaigns are often a flash in the pan, but not in this instance. The Equifax site continued to redirect the discoverer to a nefarious alternative site for several attempts.

What is even more worrisome about this, is that people affected by the Equifax hack — as Abrams was — will visit its site to learn more or to mitigate problems it might cause and will be faced with yet another security threat. Fortunately, at the time of writing, it appears to have been fixed, though the resource the previously infected link was supposed to send visitors to is “down for maintenance.”

It appears, too, that the Equifax hack has emboldened hackers to target other credit check agencies too. In a separate incident, the same sort of malicious, faux Flash Player update demands was found on the TransUnionCentroAmerica.com website, Ars Technica reported. Although more sporadic than the Equifax attack, links on its site sent people to malicious pages suggesting they install an update, only to instead download malware.

In some cases, the download would deliver an exploit kit that would try to infect further parts of the browser or system.

TransUnion is said to be aware of the issue and claims to have fixed it. It is also said to be looking into its other online properties to make sure the nefarious links cannot be found elsewhere on its online services.

For those still concerned about your Equifax data, we have a guide on how to secure your information. It’s also worth considering enacting a credit freeze.

Get the versatile Paww WaveSound 3 headphones for just $79.99!

As we’ve seen over the last few years one by one, phone manufacturers are removing the trusted 3.5mm headphone jack from their latest flagship devices as wires are replaced by a Bluetooth connection. This means that wireless headphones are here to stay, Many people are resistant to this because, for the longest while, Bluetooth headphones were very expensive. But why not find a pair of headphones that give you the option of a wired or wireless connection to your devices?

That’s why you need to take advantage of this great offer by from Android Central Digital Offers. You can get a sweet pair of noise-canceling over-ear headphones from Paww for just $79.99. These puppies are perfect for your daily commute or for wearing while working at your computer, but their active noise-canceling abilities make them an ideal option for air travel. The Paww WaveSound 3 headphones
include all the premium features you’d expect such as a carrying case, tangle-free cables for charging and for plugging into a 3.5mm headphone jack, along with built-in microphones for taking calls and playback controls conveniently located on the side.

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Headphones typically sold for around $149.99, but you’ll save 46% thanks to this deal from Android Central! But don’t delay — this deal won’t last long!

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Pixel 2 camera app available for all, Motion Photos and other features working for some

You can now download the Pixel 2’s camera app ahead of the phone’s official release, but there’s a lot you should know before making the plunge.

There’s a lot of excitement still brewing for Google’s Pixel 2, and the official launcher that debuted on the phone was just recently made available as an APK download for everyone to check out on their current devices. Shortly after that release, the camera app for the Pixel 2 has seen similar treatment, and there’s a lot to talk about with this one.

The app was once again ported by Android Police, and while there’s plenty that’s different compared to the current Google Camera app on the Play Store, not all of the changes are noticeable right off the bat.

Starting first with the app’s interface. the top controls have been spaced apart and moved closer towards the top of the screen, whereas the bottom capture controls have remained mostly unchanged. Tapping on the hamburger menu icon to view your different shooting modes reveals the same set of controls, but the Lens Blur option now features a flower icon rather than a camera lens (likely to better indicate that the mode is to be used for close-up shots).

Google Camera 4.4 (left), Google Camera 5.1 (right)

Opening the settings page, you’ll see that Google has done away with the dark upper bar with white text and replaced it with a white background and blue text. This helps to keep the look of the settings in-line with the white and blue design found throughout other parts of the Pixel Launcher and Android 8.0, and along with this, the placement of certain items has been switched around.

Google Camera 4.4 (left), Google Camera 5.1 (right)

In regards to new features, there are actually quite a few. Motion Photos (Google’s version of Apple’s Live Photos) was spotted working on the 5.0 version of the app, but in the 5.1 variant that I downloaded, the feature is nowhere to be found. It should still work if you download the 5.0 version of the Camera app on a first-generation Pixel or Pixel XL, but if you have another device or download the 5.1 file, you’re out of luck.

Google’s also updated the UI for adjusting your auto-focus and auto-exposure so that it’s much easier to lock your focus and exposure in place once you’ve got it set at the desired level. This is something that you could previously do with older versions of the app, but it’s now much more visible to users. Along with this, there’s an updated interface for viewing photos/videos that you’ve captured, “face retouching” for selfies, an improved version of HDR+ called “HDR+ enhanced”, and a warning on the screen when flash is turned on.

Unfortunately, the breakdown for who gets which features is quite confusing at the moment. Downloading the camera app on a Pixel or Pixel XL will provide you with certain features that other users won’t have access to, the 5.0 and 5.1 versions of the app are also tweaked with what’s available and what isn’t, and downloading 5.0 on a Pixel will give you different features than what you’ll see on 5.1.

We understand the want to rip your hair out, but this sort of thing is to be expected with ported versions of applications. They’re fun to mess with, but complications are to be expected.

If you still want to give this a shot, you can download the 5.0 APK file here, and the updated 5.1 version here.

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Google Pixel 2 XL vs. Pixel XL: Should you upgrade?

Does the new hotness bring enough to upgrade from the old hotness?

Google has shown off what they are bringing to the table for the next year with the Pixel 2 XL. Awkward name aside, it’s a flagship product with a flagship price and while they are courting new converts to the Pixel brand, they’re also dangling it in front of people who loved the original Pixel XL. They think you’ll love this phone. And for a lot of us, they’re right.

But the 2016 Pixel XL didn’t magically stop working when Google took the stage. It’s still a helluva phone and has at least another year of attention when it comes to updates and software. That leaves many owners of the original wondering if they should upgrade, or hold out another year and see what the Pixel 3 XL will bring. And that’s not the craziest idea because a whole lot of people think the Pixel 2 XL and the 2016 Pixel XL are the two best Android phones you can buy.

Let’s break things down so you can decide if you need to part with some cash this year or wait for next year.

What’s changed

There are a couple of big differences between the two phones. For starters, they look very different from each other.

The original Pixel XL used the industry standard “cinematic” 16:9 display aspect ratio. The 5.5-inch 1440 x 2560 AMOLED panel is in a body that measures 6.09 inches tall and 2.98 inches wide, creating a screen to body ratio of 71.2%. Yeah, there are bezels. Big ones. The Pixel 2 XL changes things up a bit and uses the new 18:9 aspect ratio.

The Pixel 2 XL is taller but narrower than the original thanks to the new screen aspect ratio.

That’s the same tall and narrow footprint we see with the Galaxy S8 and LG V30. It packs a 6-inch 1440×2560 AMOLED display in a body that’s 6.22 inches tall and 3.02 inches wide, which figures out to a 76.4% screen to body ratio. Yes, there are still big bezels. But this time they are only on the top and bottom, and those have front-facing speakers in them. But there is no headphone jack, so you’ll be buying expensive new headphones or living that #DongleLife with a USB-C to 3.5mm TRS jack adapter if you don’t do the Bluetooth thing.

This is the kind of change you either instantly hate or instantly love. These Long Tall Sallies feel very different when you’re holding them, and there’s no way to pretend that they don’t. Don’t assume you’ll love it or hate it if you haven’t held a phone built this way — hit a store somewhere and grab the floor demo Galaxy S8+ they’ll have and see for yourself.

More: Pixel 2 XL Specs

That new Snapdragon smell

An equally significant change is what’s behind the displays. The Pixel XL runs on a Snapdragon 821 and performs beautifully. The Pixel 2 XL runs on a Snapdragon 835 and should perform even more beautiful because the 835 is faster at, well, everything.

It’s hard to bog down the engine that drives the original Pixel XL. Doing regular “phone things” isn’t going to tax the processor, or the GPU, or any other component inside the 2016 XL. That takes some serious 3D gaming or some Daydreaming, which are both things people also like to do when they’re not doing regular phone things. Software engineers were able to find the limits of the 821, and while those limits were pretty “up there” we still could use a bit more.

A new chipset means more power, longer battery life, and new ways to destroy both with amazing apps and services.

The 835 brings a bit more. It’s no surprise. “New chipset outperforms old chipset” isn’t news to any phone fan. We know that newer equals faster and better battery life every single time. But the 835 has another trick up its sleeve when it comes to your LTE connection. It’s ready for what’s next.

Qualcomm calls the Snapdragon 835 chipset “Gigabit-class” when it comes to LTE tech. You have a CAT 16 modem, with 3×20 MHz carrier aggregation and 256-QAM on the download. While it’s not technically a gigabit device, it can reach speeds of 800Mbps. Your 2016 Pixel XL will never be able to do this, even when the carrier you use has the network in place.

We’ve seen LTE networks with some of this new tech in test markets so it won’t be long before a carrier starts the nationwide update roadmap. There’s a very good chance your network will offer the next-generation of LTE before it’s time to switch phones. The Pixel 2 XL will be ready for them and the OG Pixel XL won’t.

More: Pixel 2 XL Specs vs. Pixel XL Specs

Camera lovers corner

The Pixel 2 XL also brings a much better camera. That’s quite a feat considering the 2016 Pixel XL had one of the best cameras of any phone. Part of this is the hardware — a new sensor, a new lens, a new ISP (Image Signal Processor) on the Snapdragon 835 chip, and the addition of OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) as well as Google’s insanely good gyroscope-based electronic stabilization. The send factor is the software. We assume the camera app itself will be the same on both Pixel XLs but that doesn’t mean the features will be the same.

AR is going to be a big part of the Pixel 2 XL camera experience.

The Pixel 2 XL will feature AR-style capabilities that we’ve not seen on Android before. At least not on regular-not-Tango-phone Android. Demos of Stranger Things characters digitally imposed inside your AR world are just the tip of a developer iceberg, and we expect to see some exciting things. The same goes for the new computational photography demos of things like portrait mode. the original Pixel XL will be able to take advantage of some of this code, but the new camera package and image processor on the Pixel 2 XL will outclass it in every way.

Ask yourself if the camera in your Pixel XL is good enough. It’s very good. But when you see something better you can’t pretend that it’s not there.

Some things stay the same

The Pixel 2 XL runs what Google calls a “special” version of Android Oreo. We’re almost certain that means Android 8.1 which is also coming to the 2016 Pixel. Bottom search bar and all.

Even then, the changes will be hardly recognizable. Google has been footloose and fancy-free in the past when it comes to changing the entire design of the user interface with a new Android version. Who can forget the blacks and greens of Gingerbread or the Tron-inspired Holo(YOLO) Honeycomb? Google apparently, because the new Material Design UI language looks nothing like either. But Android 8.1 will look exactly like Android 8.0. Which looks exactly like Android 7.1.1, which … you get the picture here.

The operating system isn’t changing so you’ll have to learn to love bright colors and white apps.

We’re not saying this is a bad thing. You might not like Google’s new bright and cheerful interface, but everyone likes consistency. If Google thinks this is good, it’s time to refine not reinvent. the user experience doing those “phone things” we mentioned up the page will be almost identical between the two phones, minus the new screen aspect ratio. Little surprise features that come to the Pixel 2 XL will also come to the original and bigger surprise features should be few and far between; think new camera effects and the like.

So, yeah. Google is copying Apple here with its new Android iPhone. But this time, we’re glad to see it. And don’t worry — themes will be a thing if you hate the cheery interface.

The most important difference

With the announcement of the Pixel 2 line, Google told us they were extending the guaranteed life of the Pixel 2 phones by a full 12 months.

What that means is that instead of being promised two years of Android platform updates, we’re now promised three years. The Pixel 2 family will most likely see Android P (Peanut Butter & Jelly?), Android Q (Quesito?) and Android R (Root Beer?). Both phones will get security updates and bug fixes for three years, but a new version of Android is a much bigger undertaking. Your 2016 Pixels will probably stop at Android PB&J.

Three years of platform updates mean the battery will be a goner before you stop getting them.

This matters. A lot. A whole lot. We’re spending close to $1,000 on these phones, and there is absolutely no reason we shouldn’t be able to enjoy everything they have to offer for three years or more. Of all the “Google copies the iPhone” arguments we hear, this is the best one. We’re ready for one more year even.

And remember, if you plan to wait it out and jump on the Pixel 3 XL your 2016 Pixel XL isn’t going to fetch much cash when you sell it because it’s an end-of-life device. A lot of wheeling and dealing can happen with phone fans, and this can make a big difference in those 2018 phone-buying-finances.

So should you upgrade or not?

As we said before, go hold and fondle a Galaxy S8+ if you’ve never used an 18:9 phone. It’s a very close feel to what the Pixel 2 XL is going to bring. If you can’t deal with it, you know what to do here.

Are the changes worth $850? Maybe.

For those that dig the new shape or just don’t care, the question isn’t easy but it’s simple: Three years of updates, a new camera, and a faster chip come with the Pixel 2 XL. Do you need any of those things? Do you want any of those things enough to spend $850 (or $950 if you go for 128GB of storage)? Both are a good choice and chances are any of us would be happy with the 2016 Pixel for another year.

But wanting things is fun. I would upgrade. I hate the new aspect ratio. I hate not having a headphone jack. But I love computational photography and image signal manipulation (yeah, I’m no fun at parties either) so I say yes. Spend the dough on the new model and probably start saving with the next one while you’re at it.

What about you?

Like we said, both choices are great this time. The 2016 Pixel XL will stand shoulder to shoulder with most any phone you can buy in 2017 and if you like the features and software nobody will blame you for keeping your money and enjoying your phone. On the flipside, the Snapdragon 835, a new camera system and three years of updates are pretty amazing.

Are you planning on upgrading or have already ordered? Suss it all out in the comments and help all the undecided people out!

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Google Assistant on phones can finally send videos and music to Chromecast

After an absurdly long amount of time, Google now lets you send music and videos to Chromecast-enabled devices using the Google Assistant on your phone.

The Google Assistant is one of Google’s most impressive services in a number of years, but as powerful as the AI has become in such a short amount of time, there are still some aspects that don’t make any worldly sense. If you own a Google Home, you’ll know that there are certain things it can do that the Assistant on your phone can’t (and vice versa).

Google’s been working hard to bridge this gap as much as possible, and in its latest attempt to do this, you can finally send videos and music to your Chromecast-enabled devices from the Google Assistant on your phone.

This is a feature that’s been available on Google Home since day one, and it’s something that I find myself regularly using. The ability to say “Ok Google, play Android Central videos on my TV” or “Ok Google, play Spotify on my speakers” is still wickedly cool, but up until this point, you couldn’t replicate the same action on your phone.

We aren’t sure what took Google so long to make this feature available, but either way, we’re thrilled that it’s finally here to use. You should be able to send videos and music to your Chromecast-built-in devices even if you don’t own a Google Home, but at this time, it’s not clear as to how the functionality is being rolled out.

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Ten minutes with Oculus ‘Santa Cruz’ was not enough

It may not change the world, but Santa Cruz will make a lot of people happy when it finally gets here.

A big part of the Oculus Connect keynote presentation was explaining the standalone category meant to exist between the Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift. Last year, Oculus showed off very early versions of a wireless prototype codenamed Santa Cruz. We now know there will be two standalone headsets, one that leans more toward mobile VR quality and one that leans more toward the desktop quality experiences. As cool as the Oculus Go headset looks, the buzz around the conference was clearly on Santa Cruz.

And after a few minutes in the headset, it’s clear the buzz is justified. Rather, it will be whenever this headset is available to purchase.

Read more at VRHeads!

NVIDIA Shield Tablet and Shield Tablet K1 won’t be updated to Android Oreo

Android tablets (and honestly, tablets in general) aren’t anywhere near as popular as they used to be a couple years ago. The tablet craze has all but died, and it was recently confirmed that two of the better affordable Android tablets won’t be getting updated to Android 8.0 Oreo.

Manuel Guzman, a software quality assurance worker at NVIDIA, confirmed via Twitter that neither the Shield Tablet or Shield Tablet K1 will be seeing any sort of Oreo love. An update based on Android Nougat is in the works for the K1, but any hope of Oreo coming to these tablets is gone.

This might come as a bummer to anyone who owns either of these devices, but we’re honestly not surprised by this news. The Shield Tablet K1 was released back in November of 2015, and the original Shield Tablet is even older (originally launched in July of 2014).

Confirmation for the end of life for devices is never cheery, but in some cases such as this, it just makes sense.

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Common Galaxy Note 8 problems and how to fix them

No phone is perfect — but we can help.

The Galaxy Note 8 has all sorts of power and features to take advantage of it, but that doesn’t mean it’s impervious to the issues that so many other smartphones have. Bad battery life, issues with radios, running out of storage and the like may hit your Note 8 in some form or fashion over the months and years you have it — but that doesn’t mean it has to be that way. You can fix these problems more often than not, so long as you can identify the issues and know the steps to fix them.

And that’s what we’re here to help you with. If you have issues with your Galaxy Note 8, here’s the information you need to hopefully fix them.

Bad battery life

You won’t find many smartphone owners who are happy with their battery life. Even a brand new phone with advanced power-saving features and efficient specs like the Note 8 will have issues for heavy users. If you’re having problems with battery life, consider these basic tips to help your phone last a little longer.

• Use power saving mode: Power saving mode strikes a good balance between keeping your phone usable for its core features but without the background processes or data access that can drain battery rapidly. It’s customizable, but by default will lower your screen resolution and brightness as well in order to save what battery capacity you have left.
• Look for power-hungry apps: A bad app (or three) could really take down your battery over the course of the day. Go into the Device maintenance settings and look for individual apps using more than a couple percentage points of your battery over the course of your day. If the app is using battery when you’re not actively using it, check out its settings to see if you can limit that — or potentially uninstall it if it continues to misbehave.
• Turn off unused radios: If you’re not actively using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth for a while, you can turn them off to save battery. To get the full effect, To go the extra mile, head into your phone’s Settings, Connections, Location, and tap on Improve accuracy — here, you can choose to turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning, which by default happen even when the radios are turned “off.”
• Last resort: A battery pack: No matter what you do, your battery may drain too quickly during the heaviest of days. Consider picking up a battery pack to get you through those critical days without losing your phone. Look for one with Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0 for the fastest top-ups on the go.

How to fix Galaxy Note 8 battery life problems

Running low on storage

Even with 64GB of internal storage, you’re likely to find just as many people complaining about running out of storage as those with bad battery life. If you’re hitting errors trying to download files because you’ve topped out your storage, here are a few things to try.

• Delete old apps: In a rush to set up your new phone, you probably installed a lot of apps you don’t need anymore. Uninstall them! You can always download them later from the Play Store.
• Move data to your SD card: If you have an SD card in your Note 8, you can start to put data on it to save the internal storage for things that can’t be moved to a removable card. Media like videos, photos and audio are all great choices for putting on the SD card, and you can even set your camera to store new photos and videos there by default. Most apps can’t be moved to the SD card, but it’s worth checking if some can to save even more storage.
• Use the “Device maintenance” settings: Samsung includes a section of its settings just for managing storage, found under Device maintenance in the main settings. Tap on Storage at the bottom and see which areas look out of the ordinary to you. Chances are the “Clean now” button will offer to save you something, usually consisting of old temporary files or duplicate data.

Choosing how to unlock the phone

Samsung has put us in a tough position with its latest phones, moving the fingerprint sensor high on the back on the phone where it’s tougher to reach than ever before. But the fingerprint sensor isn’t the only way to keep your phone secure — you have other options, including Samsung’s new iris scanner, to choose from. Here’s how we rank them in terms of security and simplicity of use:

Best: Fingerprint sensor: Even though it’s inconveniently placed, the fingerprint sensor offers the best balance of security and convenience on your phone. Your phone and apps unlock with just a tap, and it’s not very easy for an attacker to obtain a fingerprint to use on your phone.
Good, but slower: Pattern lock: A trusty pattern lock is the next-best bet, as it’s easy to input but also quite secure. In fact, it’s more secure than a four-digit PIN — so the longer you make your pattern, the better.
Oldie but goodie: PIN or passphrase: If you don’t like the pattern for whatever reason, keep your phone secured with a PIN or password. The PIN in particular isn’t as strong as a longer pattern, but this is better than no security at all.
Secure and unreliable: Iris scanning: Iris scanning, which Samsung lauds as a differentiator, is quite secure — around the same as a fingerprint sensor. The reason why it’s down here below the other options is how erratic it can be in recognizing your eyes depending on the angle you hold the phone and the ambient lighting conditions.
Fast and loose: Face recognition: Face recognition is a (very small) step above no security at all. We know it’s quite easy to fool with a simple photo of your face, and for that reason it’s also very fast to recognize your face in person and unlock your phone.
Built-in goodness: Trusted Location/Device/Voice: Google’s built-in “trusted” unlock options keep your Note 8 unlocked so long as it meets one or more criteria like being connected to a Bluetooth device or at a specific(ish) location. As you can expect, there are many potential security issues with this method, and it should only be considered as purely a convenience option and not necessarily a security-focused one.

Best ways to secure and unlock your Galaxy Note 8

Don’t like the launcher or icons

A great part of Android is its customization options, and for a lot of people that starts with how they configure their home screen and icons. So if you don’t like what your Note 8’s home screen launcher or icons look like, you can change them!

Samsung’s built-in theme engine lets you change everything from top to bottom.

To change the launcher, just install one of many great launchers from the Play Store and then set it as your default after you return to the home screen. From there, you can open up a world of possibilities for theming your app icons.

If you want to go a step further, open up Samsung’s built-in theme engine. Go into your Settings and find Wallpapers and themes — you can download pre-associated wallpapers, themes and icons all at once, or pick and choose what you want. Applying a different theme can change the entire look of your phone from top to bottom.

Screen is the wrong color temperature

The Note 8 has the best screen Samsung has made to date, but there are many variables that factor into whether or not it looks right to your eyes. Screens can be tuned and tweaked in software, and Samsung gives you a few tools in the settings to change the display so it looks right to you.

Most people will like the defaults, but there are many display options to choose from.

Head into Settings, Display and Screen mode to tweak things. Choose between the four different screen mode presets to see which one looks best to you, and beyond that move the slider between “cool” and “warm” to adjust further. You can check the “advanced options” box to change the individual levels of red, green and blue for the smallest changes.

After playing with all of the settings most people will probably come back to just using the defaults, but if something doesn’t look right to your eyes you can make a small changes until it does!

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS problems

Some of the most annoying, yet tough to diagnose, issues on phones relate to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. This is mostly because of how much we rely on these features, but also how many variables are involved.

• Turn off the radio and turn it back on again: Yes, we know, it’s the simplest trick in the book. But sometimes all it takes to get Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to reconnect properly is to turn them off and back on again. Do the same with the device on the other end, if possible, to reset the whole chain.
• Forget the network or un-pair the device: Going a step further, you can forget the Wi-Fi network, or un-pair the Bluetooth device, you’re having trouble with and try reconnecting from scratch. Sometimes the initial configuration or passcode is incorrect and it keeps trying to connect with a setup that will never complete.
• Reset network settings: If you’re still having issues, it’s best to just reset your network settings and start over. This will clear out all of your preferences for your network and delete saved networks, but it’ll be worth it if it solves your problems. Go to Settings, General management and tap Reset — then tap on Reset network settings to flip all of the data back to default.
• “GPS” isn’t just using satellites: Remember that your phone uses more than just satellites to obtain its location, even though we so often refer to this service as “GPS.” By keeping Wi-Fi and your mobile data turned on, your phone will be able to quickly get an idea of where it is in the world before it can get a proper GPS lock from GPS satellites.

How to factory reset the Galaxy Note 8

If you’ve gone through the typical troubleshooting steps to fix whatever problems you’re seeing on your Note 8 and still don’t have a resolution, you may have to go a step further. Factory resetting your phone back to its default out-of-box state is the only way to guarantee that it isn’t something you did that’s causing the problems you’re seeing.

After backing up any important data, follow these steps to factory reset your phone.

Open your phone’s Settings.
Scroll down and tap on General management.
Tap on Reset at the bottom of the list.
Tap on Factory data reset.
Scroll down and tap on Reset and let the phone go through its process.

• The whole reset process should take several minutes.

After your phone restarts you’ll be setting it up again as new. Even though it’s a pain to do, sometimes this is your only option to try and get your phone back to running like it should.

Other issues

What are your main issues with the Galaxy Note 8? We’ll keep this article updated as new information becomes available! And in the meantime, you can always join the discussion in our Galaxy Note 8 forums!

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Alexa speaker and Polaroid printer Moto Mods available in the coming weeks

Motorola’s latest Mods should arrive in time for the holiday season.

Motorola’s recent tendency to release a hundred different phones each year can get tiring very quickly, but even with so many devices being pushed out, the company’s Z series and their accompanying Moto Mods still remain as one of the most unique throughout the smartphone market. Thanks to a leak from Evan Blass on Twitter, we now have a look at two new Moto Mods that are shaping up to be two of the coolest yet.

The two Mods in question include an Amazon Alexa speaker and Polaroid Insta-Share printer, and although Motorola technically announced these back at Mobile World Congress in February, this is the first time we’ve actually seen pictures of the gadgets.

Moto Mods are not to scale

The Alexa Speaker will likely work in the same fashion as the two JBL Moto Mods that are already available, and although we don’t know how the sound quality of this new speaker will compare, the addition of Alexa voice controls will certainly be appreciated by those sucked into Amazon’s walled-garden.

As for the Polaroid Insta-Share Mod, this will allow you to print off Polaroids of photos captured with your Moto Z’s camera wherever you go. It looks incredibly bulky from the render, but then again, that’s to be expected from essentially carrying around a tiny printer on the back of your phone.

Since this photo was shared, Android Central has also learned that these two Moto Mods will be available for purchase in the coming weeks. We still aren’t sure what pricing will look like, but if past Moto Mods are anything to go by, don’t expect them to be cheap.

Moto Z2 Force

• Moto Z2 Force reviewl
• Moto Z2 Force specs
• This is the Moto 360 Camera Mod
• The ultimate guide to Moto Mods
• Moto Z2 Force vs. Galaxy S8
• Join the discussion in the forums!

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Qualcomm wants Apple to stop production and sales of iPhones in China

Qualcomm’s latest lawsuit seeks to end all sales and production of the iPhone in China.

Qualcomm’s been in hot water ever since the beginning of 2017 when Apple issued an antitrust lawsuit against the company, and the battle between the two has been playing out ever since. In the most recent development, Qualcomm is now filing a lawsuit against Apple with the intent of having all iPhone production and sales halted in China.

Although China isn’t Apple’s most profitable country for iPhone sales, it is where the majority of the devices are manufactured. Qualcomm filed the suit claiming that Apple infringed on patents from the chip-maker, and according to Qualcomm spokeswoman, Christine Trimble, “Apple employs technologies invented by Qualcomm without paying for them.”

There are three patents in question that Apple supposedly infringed on, with the biggest having to do with the technology used for Force Touch on all iPhone models since the 6S (minus the iPhone SE). Talking about these patents, Trimble says they are “examples of the many Qualcomm technologies that Apple uses to improve its devices and increase its profits.”

Qualcomm officially filed for this lawsuit against Apple on September 29, but the Beijing court in which it was issued has not yet made the exact details available to the public.

“Apple employes technologies invented by Qualcomm without paying for them.”

Just a day before this latest news broke, it was revealed that Qualcomm was charged with (and appealing) a $773 million USD fine from the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission.

At this point in time, it’s not clear what will happen next. Qualcomm says the $773 million fine won’t affect the company and earlier this year, Apple came out victorious over two patent disagreements.

The halt of sales and production of the iPhone in China could prove to be disastrous for Apple, so it’ll be fascinating to see what happens next.

Where did all of this Qualcomm hate come from?